A True Equestrian: The Life and Legacy of Gwendolin E. Stableford

GWEN Stableford, age 96 of Summit, died peacefully at Overlook Hospital on June 16, 2014. Gwen was an avid horsewoman and international traveler, known for her financial acumen, which resulted in her serving as treasurer for the New Jersey Horse Council, American Saddlebred Horse Association of New Jersey, and the Middlesex Horse Show for decades.

For Gwen, her love of horses came at the age of four when she was put on her first horse. That love of horses and her commitment to the state’s equine industry led to her being named the 2007 New Jersey Horseperson of the Year.

Stableford showed and won with her American Saddlebreds and Hackney ponies all over the country and was founder of the American Saddlebred Horse Association of New Jersey in 1968.

She proudly represented the American Saddlebred Horse Association of New Jersey on the New Jersey Equine Advisory Board. She was also a member of the United States Equestrian Federation, the American Saddlebred Horse Association, the American Hackney Horse Society, and the United Professional Horsemen’s Association.

Most recently Gwen showed her Hackney ponies, WC Ali and WC Heartland Elegant Touch. She showed WC Ali for 10 years and won many regional and national titles among which was being named four times USEF National Pleasure Driving Pony of the Year.

Upon Ali’s retirement, Gwen purchased WC Heartland Elegant Touch who went on to win the World Championship Jr. Hackney Pleasure Driving Pony title and more recently, USEF National Harness Pony of the Year, two times. Both ponies reside in Rockvale, TN.

In January of 2013, the ASHA of NJ presented to Gwen, in recognition of her 33 years of dedicated, unprecedented service as treasurer of the association, an engraved tile in her honor which was installed on the American Saddlebred Museum Walk of Honor in Lexington, Kentucky as a lasting gift.

In honor of her memory, an endowed fund in support of equine research is being established in Miss Stableford’s name. Her love for horses and the Equine Science Center will live on through her legacy to “Better Horse Care through Research and Education”.

ESC.RUTGERS.EDU/ANNUALREPORT